


#3 - No No It's My Treat

by ScullyLovesQueequeg



Series: 100 Ways To Say I love You [3]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Complete, Ficlet, Gen, Season 3, UST, platonic activity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 01:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11749398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScullyLovesQueequeg/pseuds/ScullyLovesQueequeg
Summary: Mulder pays Scully a job related visit, and ends up spending time with her.





	#3 - No No It's My Treat

“What’s in that bag, and why are you hiding it here?” Scully asked as Mulder shouldered his way past her into the apartment. She closed and locked the door behind him, sighing softly to herself. Once he situated himself at her dining room table, she cringed as he dumped the contents of his bag on to the table unceremoniously.

“Get the lights, and the blinds, will ya?” Mulder asked, and before she could even process what he had put on the table, she saw herself off to do as he said, shutting the window, closing the binds, and pulling the curtains closed. She switched off the lights as well, and they were both submerged in temporary darkness.

On the table was a pile of glowing rocks. That was the best word that Scully could come up with in her mind for the things that Mulder had put on the table. They were long and thin on one end, and thickened as it continued, almost like a crystalline growth. They were colorless, however, there was a faint blue glow coming from each of them, that together, produced a medium level light that only illuminated the immediate area of the table.

Sauntering up to Mulder’s side, Scully was able to see his features somewhat clearly in the flickering glow caused by the rocks. He looked tired, like he had been up all night, despite the fact that it was really only 7 in the evening. His hair and clothes were a mess—the same ones he had been wearing at the office the day prior, when she had left.

“So, what do you think?” Mulder finally asked, and Scully shook her head, her arms folding across her chest. She felt self conscious and a little exposed in front of Mulder, despite wearing a t-shirt. She was not wearing a bra, or pants—just a pair of shorts that the shirt covered.

“I think that you need a new hobby, Mulder,” Scully spoke quietly, her hand just barely touching his elbow, as if to escort him out. “It’s 7 o’clock in the evening on a Saturday night, and you came barging in here about some rocks… I mean… don’t you ever _turn off_? Don’t you ever think of maybe finding something else to do with your time?”

“I—I—Do you know what I went through to get these?” Mulder asked, suddenly, almost rounding on her. Shaking her head and physically exiting the area, she sought her bathrobe and put it on, closing it around her demurely. Mulder hadn’t noticed her clothes, but now that she had put on the bathrobe, it seemed to suddenly occur to him that she was physically present.

“No, and I don’t want to know. I don’t appreciate you barging in like this… I could have been entertaining a guest,” Scully spoke, her arms crossed over her chest again, but her eyes focused on something just past his person.

“Oh c’mon… you and I both know that’s a load of crock. You haven’t even been on a date since…. That Robert guy, I think. Anyways, I thought you would be interested to know what it was I was leaving here.” Mulder spoke, shoving the rocks into the bag. Scully moved to turn on the lights again, her movements mechanical and stiff as she chewed over his words in her mind.

“Supposedly, it’s a bunch of batteries for a UFO. I don’t know if I quite believe that, but I mean, I know it’s valuable. It got Langley a broken arm.” Mulder said, closing the bag, and heading over to Scully’s coat closet, to put the bag away. Scully watched as he moved around the apartment with such ease and comfort, as if he had always lived there.

“Mulder, do you ever think that you would consider a ‘normal’ life? I mean, having a family, and finally just settling down?” Scully asked, watching as he paused to consider her words.

“Probably not. As long as there are secrets, I’d like to uncover them. The people have a right to know… as for a family… well, you know how we live. We’re always on the road. We wouldn’t get to see them that much.” Mulder said finally, putting the bag in the closet and closing the door. The fact that he used the pronoun ‘we’ and not ‘I’ was telling, but she chalked it up to him meaning their respective families, and not a joint one. It was an odd thing to even consider, and Scully’s inner voice scolded her for even humoring the idea.

“I suppose that’s true,” Scully said, her response a beat late. Shaking her head a little, she made her way over to the door, to see Mulder out of the apartment. Mulder had been making strides to leave, but when Scully had moved to actually open the door, Mulder slowed his motions, as if he was trying to stall leaving.

“Say, what are you doing?” Mulder asked, lingering by the door, and preventing Scully from opening it. With her arms crossed over her chest, she glanced up at him, trying to read his expression.

“Right now? I was going to rent a movie on pay-per-view and watch it. Why? Did you want to join me?” She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm, and a tone that reflected that she didn’t expect him to take her up on the offer.

“As a matter of fact, I do. I’d like to join you for the evening, if that’s okay.” Mulder said, and Scully could almost hear a hint of shyness in his tone, which she disregarded as a projection of how she felt.

“You’re welcome to, you’re always welcome here, Mulder but do me a favor and change. You look like you haven’t slept since Wednesday night. I have an old t-shirt you can wear, it’s not much but it should fit. Go wash up, and I’ll order something for us to eat.” Scully said, absently playing with his tie.

Mulder smirked, and headed off to clean himself up. Scully watched as he walked off, and smiled to herself. He was trying, at least. She wasn’t sure what was different now, from every other time he’d barged in on a Saturday night, but she liked that he asked to spend time with her. It was a probably to pick her brain over the rocks he had brought, but it was at least, time spent with him voluntarily, and not because their job dictated so.

* * *

When Mulder emerged from the shower, she could hear him scurrying for her bedroom. The idea made her almost laugh, but instead, she stood, heading there to help him find whatever he needed. She knocked on the door first, in case he was not decent, and when he murmured for her to come in, she did.

He was bent over one of her drawers, rummaging through it. Again, Scully noted that he felt entirely too comfortable with his surroundings and before he found something that he’d regret, she touched his arm to get him to stop and guided him to the bed.

Now it was Mulder’s turn to watch as she bent over in front of him, to look for the shirt. While he was not opposed to the view, he hadn’t anticipated seeing it, and he felt bad. He glanced past her waist, to see what she was pulling out.

“Don’t tell me you keep sex toys in there,” Mulder joked, as she closed the drawer and crouched even further to open the bottommost drawer. She glanced over her shoulder at him, giving him a serious look.

“No, I keep them in my nightstand. Easier to reach that way.” And then, as if he hadn’t asked, she continued to rummage through her drawer. Mulder was not quite shocked, but he was taken aback, left without something witty to say.

He had never viewed her as a sexual being, but then again, he had never been anything but professional with her. He rid his mind of these thoughts, watching as she finally rose and pulled out a shirt. It was a shirt that was easily bigger than her. It seemed like it would fit Mulder, perhaps a little tightly, but she handed it over. While she waited for him to put on the shirt, she thought about his abs. They weren’t overly obvious—indeed, they were just there by a mere suggestion, but she still found herself wanting to reach out and feel them.

“It fits,” Mulder proclaimed after he got it on. It was a shirt with a logo for an old college football team. Scully walked closer to him, her hands running over his abs, and feeling his muscles tense just under the skin. It sent a shiver down her spine, and after a couple of moments, Mulder took her wrists into his hands, and smirked up at her, fully aware that because he had his legs open, she was standing between them.

“S-sorry, I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t constricting your blood flow,” Scully said quickly, pulling away.

Mulder was not stupid. He was getting ready to answer when the doorbell rang. Happy to extricate herself from the situation, Scully headed to the door to answer. Mulder sighed softly, and discarding the towel on the bed, he got up as well to follow her, standing just inches from her as she conversed with the delivery person. Once she had all the bags, she put them on the dinning room table, and went to the little table where the phone was perched to get her wallet. Before she could even get there, she heard the door close, and Mulder was leaning over the couch to put the wallet on the coffee table.

“Mulder, what—what are you doing? Did you pay for the meal?” She asked, though she knew that she had.

“Yep,” He answered nonchalantly, heading for the table to separate what he presumed to be his food from hers. She watched him, his hair wet, and clinging to his scalp, his legs long, unshaven, and a little pale. His arms were glistening with sweat, or water—she couldn’t tell—and it took a little more than saying her name for her to recover, this time.

“….I should pay you back,” Scully managed to say, but Mulder’s gaze fell upon her, and she couldn’t hold his gaze. It seemed so innocent, yet evasive.

“No, no… it’s my treat. We never hang out anywhere… I know it’s because of me that our lives won’t be normal, but do you really think that after everything we’d seen and done, you would want a normal life?” Mulder asked.

“I would like to think I had a choice,” Scully spoke softly, her eyes fixed on a point on the floor just past Mulder’s position by the table.

“You still do. You can just walk away,” Mulder said, opening his food. Taking the hint from his actions, Scully set the table, and gave Mulder a plate for his food.

“No, I can’t. You know I can’t. At this point, it would be walking away from you, and I couldn’t do that. I don’t want to do that. I’ll follow you where ever you go, but… I just don’t think you realize the trail of destruction that you leave in your wake.” Scully said, taking out her own food and fixing herself a plate. Mulder did not answer, but he watched her sit, and did the same.

* * *

Dinner was in silence. Scully was beginning to think it was a mistake to let Mulder stay and watch a movie, but she also knew that they had a lot of things they needed to talk about. The moment they shared in the room—Scully wondered if it was just harmless flirting, or if he had been thinking of her as a sexual being. She knew it was something he didn’t do often. Everyone else did, though. Mulder was different.

“Thanks for letting me hang,” Mulder finally said, when he had finished his food. Scully hadn’t acknowledged him at all during dinner, but hearing him speak filled him with a sense of relief.

“Anytime, Mulder. You’re always welcome here. I just feel bad that I don’t have clothes for you,” Scully mentioned absently, and Mulder pounced on it.

“We could just forgo the formalities and just let it all hang,” He suggested, and Scully laughed.

“No thank you. I’m fine with what I have. If you feel uncomfortable though, let me know. I mean, I see you’re wearing shorts, but if you want a robe, I have a couple.” Scully said.

Mulder looked down into his lap, and then over at Scully’s. Her legs were smooth, pale, but muscular, not unlike his. She ran, and it showed. Her thighs ended with a pair of shorts that he smirked at, when he saw once again.

“I’m fine, as long as you keep your hands to yourself,” Mulder teased. Scully’s face flushed, recalling how she had been gently caressing his abs.

“I—I—I always do. Never anything less than professional,” Scully spoke, trying to shrug off her embarrassment.

“Relax,” Mulder said, moving to sit in the chair a little more casually. His words seemed to have an opposite effect on Scully, and she licked her lips before shifting in her seat—her tells for nervousness. It was a curious reaction because he had only been teasing, but she seemed like someone who had gotten caught doing something. “I’m just messing with you. I don’t care if you touch me, it actually felt nice. Like you were checking out my muscles.”

Scully forced herself to meet his gaze, but settled on his ears instead, giving the illusion of eye contact,

“I assure you, that’s far from what I had in mind.”

“I have been working out, though,” Mulder said, looking down and lifting his shirt to look at his abs. Scully stole a glance, and shook off the curiosity. She didn’t understand the reaction because he really didn’t look all that different. He wasn’t even her type.

“Are you going to watch the movie with me, or your muscles?” Scully teased, and he glanced over and laughed.

“OK, you’re the boss. We’ll go watch the movie.” He said, helping her clean the table, and the dishes.

* * *

When they were finally ready for the movie, Scully actually looked exhausted. She took a seat on the couch, directly next to Mulder. Mulder picked the movie, and put on some documentary about animals. Scully didn’t seem to object, so he left it, and found himself engaged in the movie. It was a guerrilla style documentary about the dangers of eating foods from certain regions. It didn’t keep Scully’s interest, however, and not even 10 minutes into the film, she was already in a light doze, her head resting on his shoulder. Glancing over, he smiled to himself, wishing that he could preserve the moment for what it was—two friends having fun—but in the end, he was glad the moment would pass, because he knew it would be a matter of time before he would long for a little more.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I love to write, and it's always been a hobby of mine. I don't make any money, and you could even say I don't get anything out of it. That's true. But I do it for me, mostly. And because I wanted to write the things I never saw.
> 
> Anyways, I wanted to thank any and everyone who has ever left a comment, given kudos, and read. It means a lot to me. I don't get a lot of feedback on my work, and sometimes I wonder about the quality, but it always helps when someone leaves kudos or shares a link, or comments.
> 
> So, thank you to everyone who leaves a mark. I see your kudos, and you literally have no idea how happy it makes me.


End file.
